Lesson 9 - Jodaksher or Compound letters

When two or more consonants come together without a vowel they combine and form a compound character. No definite rules can be given for their formation, except that the last letter of the group remains entire, and the rest are more or less contracted by omitting the perpendicular stroke and sometimes by changing their primitive form.

The only specific rule that can be laid down refers to the letter ર 

which is written over the group in the form of a crescent, thus, when it is sounded first; and when it follows another letter, it is represented by an olique stroke. and occasionally by changing its primitive form.

ફ્ર = ka +  ra = kra

ર્ક = ra + ka = rka 

The following are a few of the most ordinary compound letters used in Gujarati.

ત્ત  ત્થ   ન્ન  ત્ન  મ્પ     સ્ન  સ્પ

tt    tth  nn  tn   mp    sn    sp

ગ્ર બ્ર  ત્ર ર્પ ર્પ ર્ક વ્ર

gr  br tr rp rv rk vr

વ્ય સ્થ સ્ત જ્વ ખ્ત ઘ્ન ખ્ર

vy sth st jv kht ghn khr 

શ્ર   શ્વ હ્ય હ્મ ક્ળ ન્બ ત્મ

shr shv hy hm kl nb tm